Skip to main content

IPCC Communications Tips for Scientists

Allison Arteaga, February 07 2018
Close up of a microphone

In late January, ahead of the anticipated release of a new IPCC report later this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new handbook for their scientific authors on how to more effectively engage the public and communicate about climate change issues. The handbook, put together by European communications advisor Climate Outreach, was essentially a social science research literature review condensed into six communications principles, many of which should seem familiar to those among our Climate Interpreter community who have been through training with the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI).

Frameworks Institute, the social science research think-tank that produced the communications recommendations upon which NNOCCI training is based, was directly cited in sections of the IPCC handbook. Additionally, many of the principles detailed in the report run parallel to concepts taught in the Strategic Framing™ model that’s been tested and proven by NNOCCI-trained Climate Interpreters across the country over the past four years. The handbook dives into discussion of topics similar to our familiar concepts of tone, social math, metaphors, values, solutions, and navigating the swamp, along with offering up some great tips on incorporating personal stories, choosing effective visuals (based on the Climate Visuals research) and generating appropriate data displays for non-expert audiences.  

The release of this handbook garnered positive media coverage by outlets such as The Guardian and Inside Climate News, the latter of which touted the project as an important effort to “address the stubborn and longstanding challenge of communicating science – and at a time when the message is existentially crucial.” Specifically, the article highlighted the timeliness of this work in relation to recent efforts by the Trump Administration to discount climate science. But this is also an important time for climate communications because there’s new evidence that the public dialogue around climate change may be reaching a tipping point in a positive sense.

Psychiatrist and historian Robert Jay Lifton makes the case in his new book, “The Climate Swerve” that, due to increasingly visible evidence of climate change and our growing experience with its impacts, the public may be on the verge of a transition from fragmentary awareness – or a disjointed view of seemingly unrelated impacts – to a formed awareness, where cause-and-effect relationships are understood. If that’s the case, and public opinion is poised for a major shift, then truly, climate communications have never been more important. Effective communications that explain the mechanisms of climate change, and connect the dots in a way that makes appropriate solutions evident, have the potential to catalyze this shift toward greater public understanding, hope, and action.  

And from the perspective of Climate Interpreters across the country, the IPCC’s emphasis on effective, research-based communications strategies lends complementary top-down momentum to our frontline, grassroots efforts to put the best available tools in the hands of all types of climate messengers. From classroom teachers, to park rangers, to IPCC scientists, the more voices that join together in proven climate communications strategies, the stronger our message of hope for climate solutions will be.

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors

More Blog Posts

  • Correcting the ‘Non-Debate’ Debate about Framing Climate Change
    Correcting the ‘Non-Debate’ Debate about Framing Climate Change by Julie Sweetland, June 02 2016 Most people are familiar with the “non-debate” debate between the overwhelming majority of scientists who conclude that fossil fuels are contributing to disruptions to the climate system and the tiny but vocal few who deny it. Now, another “non-debate” [READ MORE]
  • Rosemary Mosco: Climate Illustration
    Rosemary Mosco: Climate Illustration by Allison Arteaga, March 18 2019 A comic that circulated through social media this past month spread hope on climate change to thousands, and it was all inspired by the artist’s connections to the National Network for Ocean & Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI). “Climate Worries”, a cartoon by science [READ MORE]
  • Communicating Climate in Higher Education
    Communicating Climate in Higher Education by Heidi Zamzow, November 13 2018 Many of us who trained as marine scientists went into our field because we wanted not only to study the ocean, but to protect it — and to inspire others to do so as well. We reasoned that, if we just provided people with information, they would change their attitudes and [READ MORE]
  • Newly Released: The Drawdown Review
    Newly Released: The Drawdown Review by Elizabeth Bagley, May 22 2020 Reprinted with permission from The Drawdown Review by Project Drawdown © 2020 Project Drawdown. All rights reserved. In the spring of 2017, Project Drawdown released its inaugural body of work on climate solutions with the publication of the best-selling book Drawdown and [READ MORE]
  • Flags of Several Different NationsLessons from COP23 – The Power Of Community
    Lessons from COP23 – The Power Of Community Allison Arteaga, November 21 2017 Last week, the world’s leading voices on climate change gathered in Bonn, Germany for the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Since last year’s conference in Marrakech, the political [READ MORE]